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Paradox Nexus: King of Swords
Gathering of the Kings The rush of blinding white light engulfed his vision as the torrent of chaotic energies faded past him whilst traveling through the nexus. It was... he had no reference to describe it. Shukuchi was instantaneous, this however, this phenomena was something else entirely. It was like walking along a road, blinded, deafened, and with each step you're balance was lost. He knew not of how long he traveled, direction was meaningless, time... was meaningless. All he could do was to simply travel along the path, if you could call it that, of the paradox nexus. To his more acute senses it was as though they had been stripped bare, revealing everything and nothing at once. Each sense he felt was like a tiny fragment of a greater intense sensation, layered on top of one another, and stacked until the weight of it buried him in a sensory overload. It was exquisite and pleasant, horrific and agonizing, he felt thousand, if not millions of emotions, each as intense as one would describe a first love. Abruptly it all came to an end and his senses came rushing back to him, and the world suddenly filled his perceptions. --- In this world, all too similar to his own, Kurosaki Ichigo rose up against the darkness that would have been the reign of Sosuke Aizen. But in the shadows of that tyranny other forces were at work. But in the wake of his war and tyranny, was the hidden shadow of the moon. An form even more powerful and heinous than Aizen himself. He would once again rise up, only to be vanquished by the combined forces of the white demon and king of the moon. History is like a river and while the names and faces have changed, the ache of war remains the same. At the dawn of a new moon a climatic battle will take place for the fate of this world. But a force beyond the precepts of space and time would see all that this creation be undone. In the star lit sky above Northern Rukongai, reality fought against a battle it had no hope of winning against. Paradoxical forces tore into its space, rending the fabric of reality apart, eliciting an agonizing groan that like a shockwave rippled outward. Bright scintillating hues of light burst outward the eroding cracks of reality until chaos itself finally shattered those feeble defenses. From within this white void stood a figure illuminated by the light, wreathed in a power not of this world. And just like that, in the instant he stepped out of the chaotic maelstrom, it vanished, as though it had never existed. --- I was in Rukongai. For a moment I could scarcely believe it. It looked the same... felt the same, but I knew that it was not. It was small things really, a building here, a sign there, different than my own. All it took was a moment, and I could see everything, hear everything, smell, taste and touch it, this world was at the cusp of all of my senses, and I couldnt help but consume it whole. It had felt like eons since I last saw anything, experienced anything. What I had felt... thought I had felt while in that corridor was nothing compared to the real thing, it might as well have been an illusion, a fabrication of the mind, but no substance. I was jolted out of my fugue-state by the overwhelming presence of death, and hollow. Shinigami were scrambling in the streets, fire's burned in the distance, and monsters of the white sands waged war against heaven. But none of that was important, none of that mattered in the wake of what could have only been that which I've come to detest. Paradox. It was like a taint at the edge of one's mind, it had no scent but foul all the same. I detected its approach, like a parasite it had latched onto someone... something that was quickly moving this way. I paid no heed to the battles fought below me. Their lives, their dreams, their very existence rendered naught all because of an event beyond their comprehension. I would have wished to join forces and clash against the coming darkness, but my battle lay elsewhere. With no more effort than one would take a single step, I crossed the distance between this....vector and I instantaneously. When my vision came to, before me was a man whose name I knew though I had never once met him. His story, and the praises of his songs echoed in my ears, as a history not my own played before me. Here desperately trying to save his own world from certain destruction was none other than.... "Raian Getsueikirite..." I began with a wistful smile. "It is an honor to finally meet you. My name is Kenshin Yagami, and I am the one who will kill this day." The words tasted like ash, but my course was set. To save this reality...Raian would need to die. Raian had been en route to the battlefield, a week following his humiliating defeat at the hands of Vladik Volkov. As he charged towards the battlefield, anger and animosity silently brewing beneath the surface of his tanned skin, a strange spiritual pressure touched the edge of his conscious. It wasn't ungodly large, nor was it small. It was quite decent, actually, yet there was such a strange feeling to it that it drew Raian's curiosity. One of Akujin's tricks perhaps? His question would soon be answered, however, as the anomaly itself appeared seconds later instantaneously, such that Raian's eyes widened and he recoiled with shock. No sound. No flash. No sign of movement. That wasn't Shunpo. Or Sonído. Or any movement technique he was familiar with, for that matter. The anomaly introduced himself as Kenshin Yagami. Never heard of him. Raian said nothing, only narrowing his eyes to study the stranger. Long flowing black hair tied back in a ponytail, sleek narrow magenta eyes that shone out quite brightly at him. It was only then that Raian began to notice the true magnitude of the newcomer's spiritual pressure. It was tremendous, akin to his own. Almost as if it were a wall of impassable steel. Kenshin then went on to explain that he would be the one to kill him this day. Raian cocked an eyebrow. He immediately deduced that the anomaly before him must've been affiliated with Akujin's Impero Nascosto. Whatever the case, Raian felt uneasy about the situation. There was something very wrong about this man's presence. Shaking his head of the thoughts, Raian opened his eyes, glaring forward menacingly. Slowly, he slid his right hand down, slipping right underneath the guard of his sheathed Zanpakutō. "Kill me?" Raian spoke out, his voice rumbling in his throat as he did. "By making that statement, I assume you are also prepared to die. And..." As he continued to speak, the sound of metal scraping against a hard surface, as Raian began to draw his one of his Zanpakutō's twin blades with his right hand rang out. "And, well, if that's the case; say it with your sword. Not idle threats." he finished, snarling the last words. At that moment, Raian allowed the massive wall of his own spiritual pressure, held deep within him, to fall upon the battlefield. The air began to rumble and increase in density as the pressure was unleashed from Raian's being. The winds seemed to respond to his spiritual pressure, as they began to intensify greatly at the mere activation of it. With his sword fully drawn, Raian assumed a standard Kenjutsu pose; standing with his right foot slightly forward, his Zanpakutō clasped tightly in both hands held out in front of him, with the point aimed directly at Kenshin. "If you are prepared to kill me," he finally said. "Then come." "Hn." Kenshin murmured as he drew his own blade. His lithe form circled around Raian, with the soft patter of his footsteps boomed like the beat of drums in the decadent silence. Eyes intense as the sun gave his opponent an appraising look, like a predator would its prey. "A man so eager to face his death, yet cares little for the reasons behind it. Why?" He asked, stopping to fully face his opponent raising his katana for a strike. There wasn't even a trace of his movement, in fact his posture hadn't even changed at all, as he simply reappeared sword held in the exact same position, as he brought it down. The sheer force of the strike was suffocating, in the instant the attack was realized, an overwhelming pressure slammed into Raian, and the surrounding area. The earth beneath them was ripped apart, boulders the size of houses were torn and hurled into the air, fissures and chasms tore across the ground beneath Raian's footing. As far as tactics went Kenshin's was simple; his strike was designed merely to ruin Raian's balance. As his blade neared Raian, it suddenly flickered and one blade became a hundred as he began his assault to overwhelm the latter's defenses. Each stroke of his sword was swift, precise and deliberate; all designed to end his life if even a single strike struck true. Raian was a blur, his centuries of experience with Kenjutsu all coming into play at once. Because of his earlier posture, he had a wide range from which he could parry. And, with his agility, he was able to put up a surprisingly strong defense. The first blow was overwhelmingly powerful, similar in that regard, to some of the Kendo tactics Raian had learned in the past. With both of his hands tightly grasping his sword, Raian tightened his muscles and filled his sword with his own spiritual energy to bear the weight and pressure of the blow, the result being the ground beneath him crumbling. To any novice, this would've damaged their footwork and, likely, lost them the match. Raian, on the other hand, was no novice. Almost instinctively, he used a small step of Shunpo to propel himself away from the damaged ground, just in time for Kenshin to unleash his flurry of attacks. Raian noticed the flicker of Kenshin's blade just before it shifted into hundreds of afterimages, meant to confuse him. However, Raian had already wordlessly formulated a contingency plan. When he had defended from the first strike, he had felt out the spiritual pressure coming from Kenshin's Zanpakutō. Feeling out that sensation once again, Raian casually ignored the afterimages, moving his sword quickly, yet precisely, to counter each blow as they came at him. As he got into the rhythm of this "dance" of swords, he began to press his own offense. Raian began to strike back now, rather than just parrying the blows. However, his method for doing this was different from Kenshin's own approach. Rather than aiming for his opponent's torso, Raian aimed each of his slashes towards Kenshin's sword arm and wrist, aiming to cut the tendons that allow his opponent to hold his blade in the first place, and only deviating from this action to parry blows that would have otherwise hurt himself. At the same time, Raian was analyzing his opponent's movements, demeanor, and overall strategy. It was a typical thing he did in a battle with an opponent whose strengths were unknown to him. He was looking for anything. Any possible sign of weakness, lapse in judgement, break in form, that he could use as an opening to deal a potentially lethal slash towards Kenshin. From what he could tell so far, he would not arrive at that opening very easily. His opponent was obviously skilled, but Raian had yet to meet someone he couldn't figure out eventually. As he continued doing all of this, Raian finally answered Kenshin's earlier question; "Reasons are obsolete in a situation like this. You want to kill me right? Then there is no point in me asking. Would you ask someone holding a gun to your head why they were about to shoot you, or rather, preserve your own life by killing them first? Besides..." his eyes narrowed, enunciating the word "besides". "I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyways." --- Kenshin raised his defense, alternating between evasion and deflection as he glided between steps dodging the attacks and parrying their follow-up. Bringing his sword upward he deflected the blow meant for his wrist downward, before sliding forward to bifurcate Raian from the torso down. Yet the swordsman was not deterred, using speed and grace born of a hundred battles, Raian whirled beneath the arced blade as he came around for a counterattack. As though in step to this dance of death, Kenshin pivoted, and with a single stroke, unleashed a massive shockwave as it cleaved the ground in half barreling towards the surprised Shinigami. Hefting his blade to the front, Raian summoned up his spiritual power as he met the wave of force with his blade, severing it two. Shifting his weight he launched himself forward, raising his blade overhead for a devastating chop. Blades clashed once more as Kenshin's sword crashed into Raian's, the exchange creating a deafening boom as the ground beneath them was blown away leaving only a smoldering crater in its wake. Shifting his sword style to another nameless one lost in the sands of time, Kenshin demateralized leaving nothing but a score of ephemeral slashes in his wake causing Raian to put up a hastly defense from the surprise tactic. Reappearing above the swordsman, Kenshin unleashed a barrage of ken'atsu as he launched himself upward in the air, releasing wave after wave of invisible blades of air. To his surprise Raian countered each and every attack, his eyes never leaving Kenshin's as they burned with the intensity of the sun, as his blade cut through his assault leaving naught but fissures and chasms around him. "Such a primitive answer for one who presumes himself a master of the sword." Kenshin chastised. "Reasons are everything. They embody the foundation upon which we as spiritual entities exist, from the depths of our spiritual power to the very nature of our abilities. Your answer... is so very human. And so very flawed. I will not waste words to explain when one's eyes are unwilling to see." Raising his sword above him, spiritual energy surged around, and the world shook. Like the final crescendo of a symphony, Raian could hear the distinct echo of ten thousand roars, and in his mind he could feel in a way so deep and in tune with himself the meaning of a single strike of a sword. "Just as your answer is human, so is the essence of your swordsmanship. Allow me to etch into your soul a sword skill beyond your feeble human limitations! Ittō Sunawachi Banto!" With that declaration, his arm descended in a downward strike. To Raian it was like witnessing thousands of swordsman in the courtyard, diligently training in the most basic sword technique. It was a vestige of the past, present and possible future, and from within Kenshin this will of the sword was made manifest. All around Raian phantasmal blades shimmered into existence, forming a curtain of blades that surrounded the two swordsman in a wide cylinder that reached upwards into the sky above. Like the eye of the storm, the whirling blades continued to dance around them, shearing air, earth and all that lay in between. To his keen senses, Raian detected not a trace of the signs of Kido being worked, its principles, its energy signature indicated nothing even resembling traditional Kido or any form of magic known! Pointing his blade at Raian, hundreds of the phantom blades launched forward intent on decimating the Shinigami and turning him into dust. "Split Finely..." The words seemed to echo throughout Raian's mind, and he realized that the voice that uttered them was not his own. It was deeper, more menacing. There was even an edge of a snarl as the command finished. It was the voice of Kanāji Fūshin, Raian's Zanpakutō. In a gust of wind, Raian's blade dematerialized, yet the sound of metal clashing with metal was now pounding against Raian's eardrums. His arms were moving against his will. Kanāji Fūshin had released itself into Shikai, and was currently using the wind, generated by the blade's disappearance, to defend against the myriad of phantom swords that were raining down on Raian's person. The wind whipped around Raian's person furiously, a seemingly razor-like edge to each of its mighty gusts. Slowly, it dawned on him that he was back in control. The voice of his Zanpakutō was merely ringing out in his head, telling him which direction to turn and parry, and which direction to dodge from. Raian's body was so attuned to sword fighting, so used to following his foe's every movements, and so accustomed to using the aid of Kanāji Fūshin's spirit, that his body was actually reacting on instinct to every one of these things at once to defend against Kenshin's plethora of sword strikes. It was unusual for Raian to use Shikai so early in a fight, but he could sense that Kanāji Fūshin lusted to taste the blood of Kenshin, his opponent, and best his own Zanpakutō, so Raian did not reseal him into the sealed state, rather kept fighting with his Shikai. As the blades of wind swatted away attack after attack, Raian could feel a bit of Kenshin's spirit beginning to come alive to him. Bits and pieces of Kenshin's emotions began too flood Raian's own. His motivations and thoughts, though not completely clear, became known to Raian. It was an ability he'd always had. By clashing blades with his opponents, he could understand a small portion of their heart. It was this understanding that allowed him to continue parrying despite the impossible odds, the wind roaring around him like a cyclone. Suddenly, Raian switched from defense to offense yet again. This time, however, his blade wasn't physically visible. It was one with the wind. The only warning of his attack being the flick of his wrist. In an instant, hundreds of invisible slashes, powered by the wind, rained down on Kenshin as Raian unloaded his assault, hoping to tear open every inch of his foe's body and leave him bled completely dry. As this assault continued, Raian finally spoke up in his own defense; "Do try to keep up, Kenshin-san." Raian jested sarcastically, "In my humanity, I get quite sloppy." --- Kenshin's brows furrowed, perplexed by Raian's retort. Being human equated to a lack of skill and focus with one's abilities? Try as I might, I'll never understand the contradictory nature of humans. He mused. With another flourish of his sword he directed the multitude of forward in a spiral formation, clashing against the onslaught of thin imperceptible blades of wind and pressure. In the heat of their exchange he saw, rather than felt Raian's senses picking up on his own unique signature. He can sense another's emotions through battle? An interesting ability. He noted. Tell me Raian, what do you see in me? He released a massive burst of reiatsu, as he sped upwards, continuing to direct the cascade of phantasmal blades into intercepting Kanāji Fūshin's attack. Like a wave of light his power rushed onward like a tsunami bathing the battlefield in its brilliance. To Raian's perceptions it was like a dam had been released, a torrent of soul and power that enveloped his senses and a for moment everything went white. It was like being struck with a meteor, Raian's senses were bombarded with multi sensory overload as he felt Kenshin's energy consume him. Images, sounds, and events burned into his eyes and soul. Kenshin Yagami, in all of his thoughts, dreams and motivations, Raian was able to instantly recognize it for what it was. His soul was... pure, as though untouched by life and experience itself. It was but a single truth, one he couldnt give voice or thought to, but one he understood intuitively. It was an idea, whole and complete, not the half-formed concepts or contradicting vagaries of a human thought, but something so profound, it was like the very laws etched into the very fabric of the universe. His was a soul that resonated so strongly, that if battle is a clash between wills, then Kenshins' was a finely crafted blade of the sharpest edges,empty of all emotion, doubt or inner conflict. A unified and singular will. It was daunting to his senses, he could see the raging aura as it flared around Kenshin, could taste its power, hear the soft hum of its energies, like standing before the blazing glory of the sun. That aside, Kenshin was a being who didnt have will, not as a human would but nature that defined his existence. He didn't have dreams or admiration's, only purpose. Whatever reason Kenshin has fighting Raian for, it was not out of a sense of duty, honor or some other abstract ideal. Quite simply, it was because he had to. As though compelled by the instinct to survive, he couldn't go against it, no more than Raian could deprive himself of the humanity in his heart. Kenshin was a swordsman who had been stripped bare of all the frivolous reasons, motivations, the anger, the despair, everything gone until all that is left is the battle itself. Then, as quickly as it had come, his senses and the conscious world returned to Raian. In the thunderous boom of wind clashing against phantom blades, in the whirling maelstrom of their battle, Raian knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Kenshin was most definitely smirking at him. --- Though Kenshin's attention had briefly wandered on the anomaly that was Raian and his unique ability, his body and sword remained anchored to the battle at hand. Accelerating his body once more he evaded one of the many blades of wind that slipped past his barrier. His step took him above the thinly visible screech of wind, only to shift and lean rapidly to dodge the attacks that followed in its wake. Even with his fearsome skill, a skill so potent that it could enact what could only be called a miracle, was still being overwhelmed by Kanāji Fūshin's attacks. Impressive. I'll need to neutralize his wind-powers if I'll have any hope of defeating him. He was brought out of his musing as another breach through his barrier sped towards him. With another swipe of his sword he directed another mass of blades into a sheet of intersecting strokes that battled relentless against Raian's attack. But first, I'll need to buy time to prepare. With another bodily acceleration, he reappeared hovering high above Raian to take stock of the battlefield. All around them was a curtain of incorporeal blades fashioned into a makeshift arena. Directly below him was a massive concave hemisphere of phantom swords that served as the final vanguard against Raian's ruthless assault. Despite the wind's strength, the attacks are all following linear, if not curved paths. He won't expect a direct assault, especially one that takes advantage of his tactic's one weakness. He thought. Raising his blade once more he swept downward causing an enormous formation of swirling blades to surround him, until they formed an enclosed and dense sphere of rapidly oscillating blades. With another motion the sphere elongated itself into the form of a drill, with three separate sections each revolving in opposite directions. In the next instant, Kenshin and his makeshift mobile blade-drill dive bombed into Raian's attack. Raian could hear the grinding of what sounded like sharp gears and the whirring buzz of air as an object of massive proportions shattered through the shield of blades Kenshin erected. It looked like an celestial star, only composed of thousands of blades, spinning wildly as the monstrosity sped towards him. The ground beneath him shuddered under the force, as the blade-drill slammed into his attack, releasing continuous shockwaves as the two opposing forces collided! Yet the purpose behind the attack was made ever clear as it began breaking attack apart. The oscillating blades were literally shredding away the winds he and his Zanpakutou were hurling at Kenshin. The three oscillating sections of blades were creating a sort of funnel, that served to not only deflect the initial wave of winds, but as it pushed through the onslaught it began dispersing the winds with its counter rotation. The effect was almost instantaneous, Kenshin's massive blade-drill broke through Raian's wind wall with nary an effort before its trajectory veered towards his own. He had only a few moments to prepare his defense before, lest he find himself atomized by the sheer number of revolving blades.